Time Machine

“A time machine is urgently needed. We need to reverse back time to about 1.5 yrs ago when we were in our second year of our MBA. We need to keep on repeating the second year many times over.” My friend from MBA, A had come to my place for the weekend. He was of the opinion that we did not enjoy the facilities & freedom we had during the two-year stay in institute. So we need to go back & relive those days. Nostalgia!

This makes me remember of the kind of things we used to do in the institute. My hostel there was a sleepy little place, the newest hostel with many empty rooms. It was a place totally disconnected from the more happening atmosphere of the older hostels. So what did we do in our free time?

Computer Games – Yes, we did play a lot of computer games. Starting from one on one child like NFS 2 championships to the more mature Age of empires. Lots of competition among ourselves.

Bakar – This means idle talk among ourselves. Many a nights were spent discussing all sorts of unrelated stuff that could come in our minds. A’s place was the center or adda where we would go & sit when there is nothing else to do.

TT – One friend KD was a very good TT & badminton player. In fact he once defeated the undefeated champion of TT here at one of the insti matches. He was always game for a game or two of TT. The TT table being close to our hostel, it was much more convenient thing to do.

Pool – During the end of first year we got a Pool table in our hostel. And then began the use or rather overuse of the table. Pool is an easy game to play once you get the basics right. There is not much exertion & you can keep on playing till your eyes start hurting. I remember I was once playing for about 6 hrs at a stretch up to 2AM & then again after I got up in the morning. And one more thing - Playing pool is more of a pleasure after one or two drinks. The balls & the ideas are much more clearer. Your game is much more flamboyant. And high confidence levels sometimes drive a much better play. Another thing about this game is that you can play this alone. You do not need anyone to play with. You can be very happy competing with yourself in finding out in how many chances can you clear the table.

Tennis – We started playing Tennis very late ie. in the winter of second year. At that time tennis was a craze around campus & the tennis court was always busy in the evenings. So playing in the evening meant just half to one hour of undisturbed play. The decision then was made of playing in the night. The court thankfully had bright night-lights. So the court would now be witness to 4 odd people playing tennis in the 5°C winter of Lucknow. Its surprising why it did not feel a bit odd at that time.

Badminton – Since the institute had just one badminton court, this was one of those places where we got to interact with people from other hostels.

Movies – Yes of course. How can we forget this. The campus network was filled with all sorts of movies. English & Hindi. So watching movies was another way we spent our time. I might have seen more movies in those two years than all the preceding years combined!

TV – Before the MBA, I used to spend quite a lot of time watching TV. The cartoon channels were my favorite. But TV watching occupied very less proportion during the 2 yrs in MBA.

So this is a list of a few things we did there. To say that we enjoyed a lot will be an understatement. No wonder A wants to go back & do all those things all over again. But this time around, we will not take these things for granted. We will simply cherish those golden moments. If only we had known then how important those times we spent together were….

Isn’t it ironical the way we always believe that the times spent before were better than today? I’m sure I’ll be cherishing my present life a few years from now. The cycle will continue. So carrying this logic further, maybe I should start by enjoying all the experiences I have today to the fullest. If I don’t do so, I will probably regret tomorrow. So with the knowledge that I will be yearning for tomorrow for what I have today, I am going to capture in all those cherished moments of my present life.